Mumbai: Man Loses ₹1.47 Crore in Share-Trading Scam Using Union Finance Minister’s Photo

A retired Mumbai resident has been duped of ₹1,47,85,849 after falling prey to a sophisticated online share-trading scam that began with a fake Facebook advertisement featuring the photograph of Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. The ad falsely promised guaranteed high returns on small investments.

According to the complaint filed with the Central Cyber Police Station, the victim, a senior citizen living on pension in Mahim, clicked on the Facebook ad on 1 October 2025. The advertisement claimed that an investment of ₹21,000 would yield a minimum profit of ₹60,000, attracting the victim to explore the offer.

After entering his personal details on the link, he immediately received a WhatsApp call. A woman named ‘Meenakshi’, posing as a representative of UPSTOX SECURITIES, instructed him to open an account on a fake trading website and invest a small amount of ₹1,000. When the victim noticed an initial profit of ₹108 displayed in the fake account, his confidence grew.

Subsequently, he was contacted by two more individuals — Smita Bhagat and Naziah (using a foreign WhatsApp number) — who presented themselves as representatives of SBI Wealth Mindset and Savexa, both of which were later found to be fraudulent entities.

On 18 October 2025, luring him with promises of higher profits, Meenakshi persuaded the victim to invest ₹5,10,000 in an IPO of “Rubicon Research Ltd.” By 13 November 2025, the scammers manipulated the virtual trading dashboard to show a massive accumulated balance of ₹6,02,39,898, including fake profits.

However, when the victim attempted to withdraw the amount, Meenakshi demanded a ‘guarantee fee’ of ₹90 lakh to process the withdrawal. This raised suspicion, and the victim soon realised he had been duped.

Investigations have revealed that the cyber fraudsters used sophisticated digital tools and fake virtual trading accounts to display fabricated profits and mislead the victim. In total, they extracted ₹1.47 crore from him over multiple transactions.

The victim has sought legal action against the alleged fraudsters — Meenakshi, Smita Bhagat and Naziah — as well as the holders of the bank accounts used to receive the defrauded money. Police are conducting further investigation.